1 INTRODUCTION. ^
2 tffemnce ; his dven wm pliin ; and his ipeech* and ninuMit* Wot
3 tfiose of all his countrymen, rude and unpolidied* He wm» however*
4 very civH, and made manj fMPofesaians of respect and attachment to
5 the British. I saw him several times, and he was always drunk either
6 with opimii or brandy. This was indeed the case with all the Shek-
7 hawiittee Sirdars, who are seldom in a condition to a|ipear till the ef4
8 feet of their last dehuiich is removed by a new dose ; consequently it
9 is only in the interval betwe^ sohrietv and absolute stupe&ctiou that
10 they are fit for buiiiness. Two marches irom SLn|!:Enna brought us to
11 Jhoonjhoona, a handsome town, witii some trees and gardeuH, which
12 look well in such a depart. Each of the Chi^, who are five in num-
13 ber, has a caiitle here ; and here they assemble when tlie public af-
14 isirB require a oomfidL At this place* 1 saw the rpjnaining four Shek-
15 hsint diiefe ; they were pilatn snoi.' One of theaii IShsam 8ing,
16 was remarikaUy mild and well behaved; but some c£.the otihen hose
17 strong marka of the eflhcts of opium in thieic ef^and.oountaBana&
18 Thiey were aU eonsias, and seemed to lire in great baimoiijr-;' biai
19 scanely had I cromed the dssart* when I heard lhat Shaim Sing had
20 niodered the 'tfavte odiets at a 6aife» stahbing the £nt of than witk
21 his own hand. *
22 ■After another march and a half over sand, from Jhoonjhoone io»
23 wards Chooroo, we quitted the Shekhawuttee. This cuiuilry.eartendi
24 about eighty miles from north to south, and less from east to west
25 It has the extensive dominions of the Raja of J_vT>oor on tlie s<^uth ;
26 on the oast iho (lepeiiHencreH of the British (iovernment ; and on the
27 west the terriii»ries of iiikaneer ; on the iionh-west it has the barren
28 country of the Bailees, a plundering tribe, remarkable for carrying on
29 their depredations on loot, and still more so, for the length and
30 rapidiiy uf the incursions thus made : on the north is Hunecaua, tlie
31 scene of the exploits of George Thomas, which, though on the bor-
32 ders of the desart, is celebrated for the verdure* from which it
33 * Hnrya is the Hindoitaiiee for green. This verdore probaUjr only last* during the
34 rainy sphsod.
35 a 2
36 Digitized by Google